Dalam kes KM Basheer Ahmad [1982] 2 MLJ 78 (“KM Basheer Ahmad”), Mahkamah Tinggi bagi kes rayuan memutuskan bahawa pendakwaan persendirian dijalankan untuk kesalahan boleh tangkap dan tanpa keizinan daripada Pendakwa Raya adalah tidak sah dan tidak boleh diperbaiki. Unbeknown to counsel for the complainant, counsel for the defendant and the learned Magistrate, the non-seizable offence under section 15(1)(d) of the Copyright Act 1969 has become seizable by the amendment made to section 15 by Copyright (Amendment) Act 1979 (Act A461) which was published in the Gazette on August 23, 1979, and came into force on that date by virtue of section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1967. By that amendment, the punishment provided for any offence under section 15(1)(d) of the Copyright Act has been increased from a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars for each infringing copy in respect of which the offence was committed or one hundred thousand dollars, whichever is the lower, to ten thousand ringgit for each infringing copy or one hundred thousand ringgit, whichever is the lower, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both imprisonment and fine. Under the First Schedule to the Criminal Procedure Code, it is clear that the original offence under section 15(1)(d) being punishable with fine only, was non-seizable, but with effect from August 23, 1979, it has become seizable, and, as such, the prosecution for such an offence cannot be conducted by an advocate or a pleader unless he has a fiat from the Public Prosecutor or Deputy Public Prosecutor. … In my view, such omission is not a mere irregularity but an illegality that cannot be cured by section 422 of the Criminal Procedure Code and, as such, the private prosecution before the Magistrate was a nullity ab initio. (Penekanan ditambah)